Everyone Needs Somebody
by Crystal Jean
Summary: There's a new player in town with secrets that could tear the group apart and it's messing with Oliver's emotions. If the group survives, will they come out of it unscathed? Mentally and physically?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

The lair was uncharacteristically hot while Felicity Smoak clicked away at her keyboards; compiling the last of her leads for Detective Lance for his suspicions of a leak in the department.

The only noise in the lair aside the consistent clicking of her keys was Oliver Queen, Starling City Vigilante, exercising as per his usual routine. He was just beginning his advancement up the Salmon Ladder, his upper arms and shoulder muscles tense with exertion.

Felicity stopped staring at her main computer screen and sat in a calm silence. Oliver was paused in his movements to catch his breath before shifting to throw his body upward to the next rung of the ladder.

"Are vigilante sidekicks allowed to take sabbaticals?"

The bar missed the right rung of the ladder completely. The weight of Oliver's body caused the bar to slide from the left rung and both went toppling to the ground, close to fifteen feet down.

The bar landed with a clank just outside the matting while Oliver landed none-to-delicately on his back. He groaned hard.

Felicity gasped and pushed up from her chair to peer over her computer screen. Oliver wasn't moving or making any noise. If his eyes hadn't been open, she may have thought he'd died.

"Are you—"

"What do you mean a sabbatical?"

She sighed in relief. He hadn't moved but speaking must mean he was okay, right?

"Sabbatical? A noun? Meaning to –"

"I know what it _means_, Felicity. That wasn't my question."

He groaned as he rolled over to lift himself from the mat. He was shirtless, only in his forest green cargo pants and beige belt.

_Like he's hardly ever in anything else_, Felicity mused to herself.

"Felicity."

He was standing next to her desk.

"What?"

"Please explain to me why I just fell to my possible demise."

"Maybe old age is catching up to you?"

"Felicity!"

Felicity rolled her eyes and shifted her body around the side of her desk opposite to the grouchy vigilante. She'd taken to putting distance between them when they were about to argue. Not out of fear or anything. It was just easier to stare at him without having to crank her neck backwards.

"I'm going to take a couple of months to myself between here and Central City."

Oliver's eyes were dangerously narrowed. "To see Barry?"

"Didn't we literally just have a war over that two weeks ago? Or did your head go firmly back up your ass? "

"So what if it did?"

She couldn't help but roll her eyes again. It seemed as if no matter how many times Oliver and she had an argument, for whatever reason, he'd apologize and then brush it off thirty minutes later. But that wasn't why she wanted the time off.

"No, it's not to see Barry. The doctors are all very adamant that he's virtually brain dead, but _thanks_ for bringing that up."

He sighed and sat in her chair. She hated when he sat in her chair. Especially shirtless and sweaty; no matter how sexy he looked all slumped over in thought.

He was looking at her. "Then why? I…"

She rose her hand up to stop him. It wasn't a dismissive gesture, just a way to stop him. She knew he hated spilling the metaphorical beans that were his emotions. "I know you need me. Rely on me. I simply just have a few things to take of. Mostly family."

She was lying.

"How long?"

"Two months or so. Nothing very long."

He snorted at her. Not very long his vigilante ass. "What about Queen Consolidated? Don't I have to approve your vacation time?"

She laughed at him as she tossed herself down onto the small couch near the training mats. She'd demanded they added it after Oliver had stolen her office chair for some stupid experiment and left her without a place to sit.

"You approved that two days ago. You should really start looking at the papers I hand you to sign before you actually sign them."

The look he gave her was priceless. An absolutely adorable mix of petulant child and defeated adult.

"I organized the computer so Diggle can take care of the tech aspect of your operation and I will always be a phone call away if something really bad happens."

Oliver nodded in defeat and stared at her with his dark brooding eyes. Felicity glanced at her watch and quickly stood up to make towards the exit.

She stopped in front of him and smiled warmly. She placed a hand on his clavicle, her thumb on his pulse and fingers brushing his neck. She'd done it before she could even stop herself. "I'm coming back, Oliver. I promise."

His hand rose up to take hers and he brushed a soft kiss to her knuckles before releasing it. She dropped her hand and went for the door.

"As long as you do one thing for me, Felicity."

The door was partially open when she stopped and waited for him to continue.

"Never wear that hideous yellow nail polish again."

Oliver couldn't help but smile as she laughed and finished her way out of the lair. She'd be back. She promised.

* * *

Arrow was in yet another battle with a simple common street thug a few nights after Felicity took her vacation. He'd been tense and broody and was taking it out on the man in front of him. He wasn't known for his complacent nature but it really seemed as if he was just toying with the poor man at this point.

"Oliver, I think you're done." Was Dig's reasonable reply through his ear piece.

He grunted and tossed the guy to the side, letting him land in a pile of wooden pallets.

"She's only taking a little time off. It's not as if she fled to the moon. You should try it sometime."

"Flee to the moon?"

"Ha. Are you done for tonight or what? All this typing is cramping up my fingers."

Arrow glanced around the dark alley for any signs of danger. Coming up short he clicked on his communication link to Diggle, "You can go home, Dig. I'll wrap it up."

Both sides of their link went dead; the two's signature response for agreement. Diggle wasn't fond of computers, so the less he had to fiddle with them the better.

Arrow sighed and turned to his motorcycle. A few long days out of an even longer two months.

He was so caught up in his inner turmoil he didn't take any notice of a second thug slinking up to him with a metal pipe in his hands.

The pipe swung but missed his target as the thug was attacked from a third person hiding in the wings. Arrow was just missing shit left and right tonight.

He swung his body around to defend himself only to catch site of the pipe wielding idiot being hit in the face by someone much smaller than any of them in the alley.

She was wielding two intricately carved wooden sticks, both about twenty four inches long. They were well used, and in her hand, looked as if they were an extension of her body.

Her body. It moved fluidly and silently, making short work of the man in front of her. She had him on his knees, back to her, in a chokehold.

Arrow suddenly snapped to attention when he realized what she was about to do, "Don't!"

She kissed the thug on the cheek, leaving a black lipstick imprint, before snapping his neck and letting his body fall.

She smiled, "Too late!"

Arrow took only a half-step towards her before she slipped her weapons into their holsters affixed to her thighs, threw him a peace sign and scampered up a fire escape. He followed.

The two traversed rooftops and jumped over air conditioning systems for twenty minutes before the mystery woman stopped at a ledge with nowhere to go but down. She 'hmmed' and turned to face him.

"Seems as if I've run out of places to jump, wouldn't you agree?"

"Who are you?"

She seemed familiar. He took her in. Short and lithe, the lower portion of her body was covered in a black, somewhat baggy military cargo pants with a simple leather holster around each thigh for her fighting sticks. Her boots went mid –calve and unbuckled.

The woman's upper half was covered in a plain, but quite fitted, black pull over hoodie that looked as if it was made of particularly thin material. It had a hood attached to it that was pulled over her head. Blonde hair spilled out from the sides. A mask similar to his and black lipstick were on her face.

"Does it matter?"

A guttural noise came from his chest as he stepped closer.

She clicked her tongue, "I've been called many things, but Black Widow seems to have stuck."

Now he remembered her. She'd made cameos at random to help from a distance, or save a distraught person here or there. He wasn't sure she was an enemy but she was an indiscriminate killer.

"I take it you remember me now."

"You didn't have the fighting sticks last time."

"Escribe sticks, and I did. Just had no use for them. You can stop stepping in closer; it's not as if I can't tell you're doing it."

Arrow stopped with one foot partially risen. He had only managed to close the gap between them a couple of feet.

"You should treat your people nicer. You never know when they might not be there anymore."

His eyes snapped to hers, "What do you want here?"

Black Widow's hand snaked into the front pocket of her hoodie, "To observe. Help on occasion. You've seen me in the past, so I must not rank very high on your list of concerns."

"How do you know anything about the people that help me?"

"I've been around. Eyes and ears everywhere, _Arrow_. I also know you're down a person. I wonder how much that's hurt your operation. One might want to pay her a visit to make sure she's still got all her pieces."

He couldn't stop himself from pulling an arrow from his quiver and stringing it into his composite bow, pointing it at the woman in front of him.

She held up the hand that wasn't in her hoodie, fingers splayed out wide.

"You're your own bigger enemy than I am. Keep an eye on your friends, Arrow. They might not be there when you need them the most."

Her busy hand pulled free of her pocket and threw a small metal canister at the ground. The smoke billowed out of it, obscuring his view of her.

Arrow dropped his arrow from his sights with a grunt of frustration. The smoke had cleared and she was gone. Gone after that cryptic and unsettling message.

_"They might not be there when you need them the most," _rang in his head like church bells on Sunday morning.

There was only one thing flashing through his mind when he suddenly spun on his heels and tried to empty the distance from his motorcycle as fast as humanly possible.

_Felicity. _


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Arrow was pushing his motorcycle to its limits as he raced across Starling City to Felicity's apartment. He couldn't shake a feeling of dread at Black Widow's message.

He took a corner swiftly, narrowly missing a parked car.

He sighed and loosened his grip on the accelerator of the motorcycle. He couldn't save Felicity if he killed himself before he got there.

He drove up behind the apartment building and eyed the fire escape. He'd been to her apartment a time or two, but only as Oliver Queen. He certainly had never made any attempt at breaking in through the window.

Shaking his head he pulled down the ladder and began making his way up to the window of Felicity's place. He hoped she was safe and sound doing her normal nerdy things.

* * *

Felicity was laid out across her couch dramatically, absorbed in the newest episode of her favorite show and unaware to the rest of her surroundings.

The window to her living room was cracked to let in a bit of breezy air to the apartment. She loved the smell of the fresh air mixing with the oil from the streets of Starling City. It had always given her a sense of calm since she'd moved there just a few years ago.

The curtains of her window moved softly in the wind, obscuring the shadow of her unexpected visitor on the fire escape.

* * *

Arrow had expected the window to be at least locked; not open for the world. He shook his head. He would have to have a talk with her about this.

He slowly brushed a curtain to the side and glanced into the apartment. Her feet were dangling over the arm of her couch, bouncing slightly. He couldn't see the rest of her.

Slinking in past the curtains, he used her bay window bench to secure his footing into the apartment silently.

It was only a few strides from her window to the back of the couch she was on. The TV was lit up with some sort of aquatic cartoon involving a talking sponge, star and squid.

Felicity was so absorbed in her show he almost missed it when she spoke.

"Someone needs to brush up on their breaking and entering skills."

He glanced down from the TV and caught eyes with her.

"How did you know I was here?"

Felicity snorted and sat up. He pushed his hood away from his face.

"I saw your reflection in the TV when I changed the station."

He was speechless. He was upset at himself for not paying better attention, but also shocked and slightly impressed Felicity had the foresight to notice something like that. She was always so jumpy in the lair.

"What gave you good enough reason to scale my fire escape, Oliver, which superseded a phone call?"

Felicity motioned to the free spot on the couch and he accepted it; setting his bow and quiver on the floor by his feet.

He sighed, suddenly feeling very stupid for coming into her home like he did.

"I think there may be a new player and she threatened you. I assumed the worst and rushed over."

"And if I wasn't here?"

He shrugged. He hadn't actually thought that far into it.

She tapped his thigh with her bare foot, grinning from ear to ear, "Was the Ollie-wollie _worried_?"

"She knew you were taking time off. Who could have known that? I couldn't just let her hurt you."

He felt her tap his leg with her foot again and pulled his eyes from glaring at the floor to meet her pensive look.

"I'm not helpless, Oliver."

"That's not the point."

"Then what is?"

He shook his head. He was too mentally drained to have this conversation again.

"I just…need you to be safe. Being how I am is the only way I know how to make sure that happens."

Felicity sighed and pulled her hair free from the loose pony tail she liked to wear and ran the other hand through her hair, pushing apart the curls. Oliver was still staring at her. She knew he hated dealing with or explaining his emotions.

"Who is this new player, then? Is she cute? Nice big boobs?"

She smiled when he chuckled and shook his head, "I wasn't thinking with my penis at the time, Felicity. She said people were calling her Black Widow."

"That black lipstick girl? I think I remember her. She always seemed like such a non-substantial personality. We haven't seen her since the Glades fell. Before you made your Great Escape back to Lian Yo-Yo."

"Lian Yu," Oliver corrected ruefully.

"Yu, shmu. You were checking her out, don't lie. Did she have a nice ass? Nicer than mine?"

Oliver's gray eyes dilated a little bit as he stared at her like she'd grown a second head. She never was one for censoring herself.

She was tapping his leg with her foot again, "Eh, eh? Nicer than mine or what?"

What the hell; he'd play along. He wasn't called the Billionaire Playboy for nothing.

He chuckled at her, "Well, she did have quite a perky rear. You're always in those business suit pants, how could I compare? I've never seen you in these tight yoga pants before," he rubbed a gloved hand over the pants of her shin. "Maybe you should model them for me?"

The feel of him touching her, even through two layers of cloth, gave her goose bumps. He'd thrown the ball to her court; there was no way she could back down from such a challenge.

"I don't think you can handle all of this, Ollie-wollie. I might show up in your dreams tonight."

Felicity stood up from the couch and turned away from Oliver. She grabbed the hems of the oversized, long sleeved T-Shirt that was settled mid-thigh and pulled them up above her hip and bent her body over at the waist slightly.

Oliver's breath caught in his chest. He didn't think she'd do it. She was right though, she'd be haunting his dreams. Her rear was perkier then he'd thought, the yoga pants hugging and defining the two curvaceous mounds of her backside.

He could feel his hand lifting from its place on his thigh against his will. His body desperately wanted to touch her.

Felicity spun around with a little hop and a grin before he could. His hand snapped back into place hoping she hadn't seen him.

"Well? Is it nicer?"

He gulped, "Defiantly."

Felicity clapped and jumped back on the couch sitting Indian style.

"Don't say I didn't warn you when I show up in your dreams tonight, all sexied up. She might have her dirty secretary way with you. Oh…wow, I did not…please pretend I didn't say that!"

Felicity face blazed bright red and Oliver could see the blush spreading down her neck and most likely over her chest. After their verbal brawl over Barry, he'd begun to see her in a new light.

Oliver had always known she had a crush on him, she could never hide that. He'd always pushed it off, having been short sighted by his past love with Laurel. After discovering who they believed to be the man behind the skull mask, he'd decided to stop letting himself be blinded by a love he knew barley existed before he'd left with her sister on the Queen's Gambit all those years ago.

Felicity was staring down at her hands, her bottom lip stuck between her teeth. Oliver couldn't help himself.

He placed a gloved hand over hers and whispered, "Felicity."

She glanced up from his hand sitting over hers to his face. He'd leaned in close enough for them to share the same air.

"Y-yes?"

"There's no need for you to invade my dreams when I've got you right in front of me."

He closed the gap before she could squeak a reply. Not that she'd want to. Oliver's mouth moved over hers and she was putty. His mouth was so warm, she couldn't stop from letting his tongue invade the space of her own mouth.

Oliver pulled his hand from hers to strip off his gloves. He had to feel the heat of her skin against his own.

She had her hands tangled on the back of his neck, pulling her into him as she leaned back on the couch and let him tuck himself between her legs. His hands were fisting at her large sleep shirt and it sent shivers up her spine.

He couldn't help but want to feel more of her, and the giant baggy shirt was bunching up in his hands and keeping him from his goal. He growled into Felicity's mouth to voice his frustration.

Oliver pulled away from their kiss to glare at the hem of her shirt. He hooked his thumb under the fabric with triumph and slowly tried pushing the shirt up her body, grazing his fingers along the yoga pants.

Felicity was breathing hard. Not just from the kiss, but from the idea of him seeing her body. She blinked hard to gather her thoughts and fumbled her hands over to Oliver's.

"Oliver, wait."

He couldn't hear over the blood pounding in his ears. Admittedly, he'd had dreams like this before. Even before she knew his secret. The time's he'd gone down to her I.T. cubical for help. That bright red lipstick always drew his attention.

He slid her shirt further up her body, and almost moaned when his fingers came in contact with warm skin. He stared as his fingers brushed over her hipbone and towards her belly button.

He wanted to see more but he felt his hand stop and his brow furrow when his fingers felt a raised section of skin that didn't belong on a body as perfect as Felicity's.

Felicity had gone past trying to fumble with Oliver's hands to grabbing a free hem of her shirt and yanking it down violently, snapping his attention from her shirt to her face.

"Was that a scar?"

Felicity pushed her hands into Oliver's chest and forced him backwards to the other side of the couch. She stood up abruptly.

"Time for you to go."

"Felicity."

"You can see that I'm quite healthy and in no danger of meeting my demise at the hands of the Black Widow. Thank you for stopping by, Oliver."

She made to move around the arm of the couch to the open window to visually express her point when Oliver grabbed her wrist around the fabric of her shirt.

"You can talk to me, Felicity. Where'd you get such a large scar?"

Felicity didn't want to be mean to him; she knew how fragile he was emotionally. She sighed and gently pried his hand from her wrist.

"Oliver, I don't want to talk about that. Please, go home."

"But…"

She shook her head and bent over to fetch his bow and quiver and closed the gap from the couch to the window. She nodded her head toward the open glass as a signal for him to leave.

He sighed and stood up. He'd never known her to hide something from him, what made this any different?

He took the gear from Felicity, letting his un-gloved fingers brush hers. Maybe if he gave her space she'd tell him on her own time?

"Felicity…Like you tell me, I'm always here for you. If you need to talk…Please, let me help."

She smiled and stood on her tip toes to place a kiss on his stubbled cheek.

"It's a story for another time. Not one you're ready for. Please, go home and not worry about it. You said you thought we could help Roy to control himself. Prevent hurting anyone again. Consider taking that up while I'm gone and I'll be back before you know it."

Oliver nodded. She'd changed the subject completely, and he wouldn't press it. He gave her a kiss on the cheek in return and stepped through the window onto the fire escape.

Before Felicity closed the window she stuck her head out with a little grin, "Maybe I'll surprise you in a few days at the lair to give you something fun to dream about."

The window clicked shut and Oliver sighed. He wouldn't need any more visual stimulus to accomplish that. He was damn sure she'd be haunting him when he closed his eyes that night, both intimately and worrying. Where could she have gotten such a large scar?

* * *

END CHAPTER TWO

First A/N: My little spin! Enjoy! Updates will typically take 1 to 2 weeks, but I do hope you're all enjoying it. Let me know what you think?!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Two days later, Oliver found himself sitting in his office chair at Queen Consolidated well passed standard business hours. The full moon outside illuminated his office through the windows.

He kept staring at his computer screen, almost as if willing it to speak to him.

It'd only been two days since he'd seen Felicity. Two long, excruciating days. Any time he closed his eyes, he could see her bouncy curls, her pouty lips, her tantalizingly firm bu-

His cell phone rang.

"_What?"_

"Whoa, what's got your panties in a knot?"

"Dig. What is it?"

"Intercepted a scanner call; B.W. was spotted about three blocks from Q.C. at the corner of Jones and 9th. Apparently she stopped a burglary in progress at that Philippine restaurant."

Oliver shut off his phone while leaping from his chair. The city had been quiet since his last encounter with her and he was itching for some action.

He kept his Arrow gear with him just about everywhere he went, and Q.C. was no exception. The bag was hidden inside a cove he'd had installed in a bookcase. Sprinting into the elevator he made short work with changing.

Once he'd swapped personas to that of The Arrow, he suddenly realized he was missing something. His gloves. The one's he'd apparently forgotten at Felicity's.

_Damn it_.

He felt a little naked, truth be told, not funny clothed as usual. He had no time to dwell on it, but it made him smile he had a reason to go back to her apartment. He could go after he dealt with the Black Widow.

Strange.

He'd gone straight to Felicity after the first encounter as well.

She'd only been on her 'vacation' a little over a week, but Oliver suddenly felt like it was time to cut that short.

* * *

Arrow made it to the restaurant in only a few short moments. He didn't suspect she'd still be there, but he had always considered himself lucky.

The back door was pried open and ajar. He nudged it open with his foot, his hands firmly in control of a strung arrow through his composite bow.

The kitchen was quiet.

He could hear voices further into the building as he stepped over the prone form of the dead burglar. He had a black lipstick print on his cheek and a kitchen knife sticking out of his chest.

Arrow turned a corner into a narrow hallway where a partially open door stood at the end. The talking was coming from inside the small office behind it.

He moved to it quickly and shoved it the rest of the way open. A tiny woman in her seventies was talking in hushed Filipino to a woman dressed in all black with blond hair and black lipstick. Black widow.

The tiny older woman started yelling and B.W. hushed her quickly. She instructed her to sit down and be quiet. At least, he assumed. She was speaking in Filipino and that was a language he didn't know.

"Arrow."

"Widow."

"I'd ask why you were here, but I assume you found him already."

Arrow grunted. His bow was still strung and pointed at her chest.

She scoffed at him and mumbled something in Filipino before walking up to him and knocking her hand into the side of the composite bow. She eyed him through her mask as she brushed passed him and motioned for him to follow.

* * *

Arrow had followed somewhat reluctantly but he found himself face-to-face with her a block or two over in an ally.

"Are you stalking me, Arrow?"

"You killed that man."

"He was trying to rob a seventy year old woman. I only did to him what he was planning to do to her."

Arrow shook his head, "Our justice system doesn't operate on an eye for an eye."

She had her hands on her hips, "I'm fairly certain it doesn't operate under the idea of city wide vigilantism either."

She had him there. But, he was still adamant against killing when he could. He wasn't sure if he should treat her like an alley or an enemy. He noticed her looking at his hands.

"Missing your gloves are we? It totally ruins the look."

"They were temporarily misplaced."

Black Widow smirked. She contemplated staging something in order to get him to pursue her again, but when the burglary happened she saw it as a perfect opportunity. Plus, her ties to the restaurant owner demanded it be dealt with.

Her hand snaked into the left cargo pocket of her pants. She pulled something out that looked oddly familiar. They were green. They were leather.

_His gloves!_

Arrow had his bow strung and aimed in an instant, "What did you do to Felicity?!"

She smirked, "Did you not want these back then?"

He took a half step closer, "I'm tired of your games. Tell me what you're doing here, what you did to get those gloves, and why is Felicity your target? If I don't like the answers, I'm reconsidering my no kill policy."

The smirk never faded, she took her own half step forward and tossed the gloves down at his feet, "I've always been here, Arrow. Even before you. Your little _mission_ pushed me to become more readily seen. You act as if you have a handle on everything. You don't. You're so emotionally damaged it does nothing but screw with your big picture. The people around you get hurt, and you wallow in self-pity because of it."

She paused, pursing her lips.

"That doesn't explain why you keep threatening her."

"Your darling little Felicity? You only assume I threatened her. Did you ever stop to contemplate why I'd tell you to keep an eye on her if I just wanted her dead? You don't think, during the time she's been gone, I could have done it at any time?"

"My gloves…"

"Everyone has their secrets, dear. Don't always assume I'm the only one hiding things."

Black Widow didn't bother with the smoke screen like before. She simply turned on a heel and walked from the alley. They both knew he wouldn't shoot an arrow into her back.

He stood there for what felt like hours. It wasn't the first time he'd thought living on Lian Yu was a hell of a lot easier than Starling City.

* * *

After his encounter with Black Widow Oliver could do nothing but try and channel his frustrations into exercise. He left a cryptic voicemail on Felicity's phone demanding she meet him there in the morning, and that was all he could do to keep himself occupied in the meantime.

That's how Dig and Roy found him not long after the sun rose in the sky. Hanging sit ups, dripping copious amounts of sweat everywhere.

"What's got you all bunched up?"

"Roy, you and Dig start digging up as much information on Black Widow as you can and any ties she might have to anyone in the city."

Hey Dig, let's go…dig. Ha, funny right?!"

John rolled his eyes and shoved him toward a chair. It didn't take Roy long to get comfortable in the lair after Oliver approached him about controlling his new strength. Having someone to watch him gave him a new calmness, it seemed.

Oliver kept quiet, save his exercise grunts until slightly passed noon when Felicity came skipping down the stairs. He watched as she shook hands with Roy and hugged Diggle, albeit upside down.

He lifted himself up in a last sit up before adjusting to land on his feet in front of her. The frown on his face couldn't be any deeper.

"What was up with your message? I came as soon as I woke up and heard it."

He looked passed her briefly at the other two males in the room and asked them to leave. Felicity was staring at him quite confused as they went up the stairs and shut the door.

"Oliver?"

"Are you helping Black Widow?"

"Why would you ask me that?"

Oliver was almost sneering at her. He'd only been this angry at her a few times. He could count them on one hand. He was quite literally seeing red.

"Felicity, don't lie to me."

It was her turn to frown, "Technically, that wasn't a lie. It was a question to your original question."

"Don't play your damn mind games with me! She gave me my gloves. The gloves I left at YOUR apartment! Are you helping her?!"

Felicity rolled her eyes and brushed past him to put her on the side of her computer desk, "Are you jealous or something?"

"Is that why you took time off?"

"No! I took time off to gather my thoughts. Decide if I even wanted to keep doing this!"

He could feel his mouth drop a little. The sweat was drying on his skin and caused a small shiver. He didn't have any time to gather his thoughts before she kept talking.

"She only wants to help! Help you. I was never in any danger, like I told you the night you came over. I'm not helpless like you want me to be. All you do is push everyone away. You might come to these small realizations but you keep having them too late. I was already having problems with all of this…THIS," she sucked in a breath and threw her hands up towards the ceiling of the lair, "before you came and kissed me. I can't keep splitting my life for you and never know if I'm going to get anything in return!"

Oliver was looking at the ground. He was so angry with her when he'd thought she'd betrayed his trust. Betrayed him and turned to some random enemy. She was just about as damaged as he was.

She'd moved from the desk to stand in front of him again, "I'm not betraying you, and I don't want to leave. It's just hard for me. She just wanted to help you; she just doesn't know how to do it in a way that you'll accept it. Accept who and what she is."

He shook his head and lifted his eyes from the floor to meet hers. She was wearing the typical baggy pants and long sleeve shirt when she wasn't at Q.C. in her stuffy business clothes. Suit sets or skirts with a crazy print legging. He lifted a hand to her check, rubbing the edge of her lip with his thumb.

"I care about you, Felicity. Much more then I let on sometimes. You make me shy, and it's uncomfortable. Then, to think the worst because of someone I _thought_ wanted to hurt you; it damn near devastated me."

Felicity placed her small hand over his, "I'm sorry. I should have handled it better. Handled everything better."

He smiled. "We all fuck up sometimes. It's been almost two weeks…come back? Just here. Run out your time for Q.C."

She rolled her eyes and nodded. She pulled his hand from her face and stepped in closer, letting the fingers of her other hand finger just above the line of his shorts, brushing a scar that dipped out of sight.

"Can I have a kiss?"

Oliver's eyes dilated with desire, gripping her hips to pull her into him, "You can have anything you want. Anytime you want."

She moaned as he bent down to kiss the tip of her ear, breath hot on her neck. She gripped his belt tightly.

"What about _anywhere_ I want?"

His chest rumbled and looked at her intently. She was biting her lip with a bit of a smirk.

"Anywhere, anyway, anytime, anything."

"Oooh, Code word! We can go 4A, sexy!"

He laughed and kissed her on the mouth softly. She sighed and his heart told his brain to never let her go. He kissed the top of her forehead.

"Before I let you destroy my innocence, Felicity, you should know Roy was fiddling on the computer earlier today…"

Her eyes got wide and she glanced at her precious set up, "And?"

"It sort of made a screeching sound and turned off…Diggle is afraid to touch it."

She gasped and shoved back from Oliver's hold with a start. Her baby! Her precious baby!

"Glad to have you back, Felicity."

He was rewarded with the sounds of key clacking and curse words. He grinned. Black Widow could wait.


End file.
